Subscribers have the opportunity to participate in discussion forums, post sermons and offer helpful critique to others. Archived feature articles will also be available to subscribers.
A six-month free subscription is available through a key that can be found on the CD bundled with Kent Anderson's Choosing to Preach. >>
It is an old, unwelcome joke: seminary is cemetery, death to the life and health of aspiring spiritual leaders. Of course, clichés do not develop without provocation, and this one is probably no exception. The desire to deliver graduates astute in the intricacies of the theologically arcane has led seminary educators of the past toward an unproductive irrelevance. I know, I know, I hear your objections (especially given that last sentence I just wrote). Let me try to speak to them one at a time…
“Seminary is no place to learn about real-life ministry.” You’ve got a point there. That is why experience based learning is becoming a critical part of the way we educate our students. The cloistered environment of the past is long gone. Today’s seminary students live in their communities, hold down jobs, and participate fully in their local churches. In fact, most seminaries are finding creative new ways to get churches and pastoral mentors directly involved in the training of their students.
“Seminary is too expensive.” Education is not cheap, nor should it be. Offering small enough class sizes so that effective mentoring takes place costs a lot of money. Nevertheless, shared funding initiatives that involve the student, the church, and the seminary are helping students graduate without debt. Churches are discovering that investing financially in people that have demonstrated gifting and calling makes good financial sense.
“Seminaries don’t understand the diversity and complexity of a globalized world.” You’re kidding, right? You should sit in my classroom. I’ve seen the black and white photographs of previous alumni classes, male dominated, as white as their heavily starched shirt collars. Look at a picture of today’s classes and you will find that more than just the photography has been colorized. Today’s students come from both genders and every racial and socio-economic grouping. Crossing cultures happens every day in the hallways and classrooms of today’s Canadian seminaries.
“You don’t need a Master’s degree to serve the Lord.” I agree, but you didn’t think that this was about earning degrees, did you? Sure, it’s nice to hang the sheepskin on the office wall. If you’re going to do the work, you might as well get credit for it. But that’s not why students come to seminary. Good leaders understand the wisdom of life-long learning. Today’s students are lawyers, engineers, and housewives. I even have students in their third and fourth decades of professional ministry. These people understand the need to keep their saw sharp.
“Leaders need to be trained by those who have ‘done it’ not by ivory-tower seminary professors.” You should know that I’ve searched our campus carefully and have not been able to find a tower anywhere, ivory or otherwise, but then maybe I shouldn’t be so defensive. Seminaries today understand their limitations. We are engaging in networked relationships that link us with good people like the Willow Creek Association, Campus Crusade, and other energetic groups that are “getting the job done.” Cooperation is the shape of the future.
“There are no jobs for seminary graduates.” Wrong. Never has the need been greater for well trained gifted seminary grads. Placement opportunities are unparalleled. My own denomination alone is going to need seven hundred new leaders over the next ten years to pastor all the church plants, fill all the new associate positions, and replace all those who retire, change careers, and mess up. It is an occupational gold rush!
“Seminary is a spiritual cemetery.” So now we’re back to this. I’m happy to report, however, that today’s seminary students are very much alive to their faith and to their God. A new emphasis on spiritual formation as an area of disciplined study will bear much fruit for the future of God’s kingdom. I recently had an opportunity to interview every one of our 2002 MDiv grads and I asked each of them whether seminary had killed their faith. You should have seen the passion in their eyes and felt the warmth in their answers. With these students taking up leadership in our churches, I think we’re going to be just fine.